CBS' Borger warned of media complicity in possible "Swift Boat[ing]" of Clinton

While discussing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY) announcement of an exploratory committee for the 2008 presidential campaign on the January 21 edition of CNN's Reliable Sources, CBS national political correspondent Gloria Borger noted that Clinton "could get 'Swift Boated' " through baseless allegations about her marriage to former President Bill Clinton, "in that sort of a sense where a third-party group" makes the allegations "and then the press makes believe, 'Oh, it's not our story, it's their story.' And then we cover it." Host and Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz responded, "We're just repeating the charges."

Earlier in the discussion, Kurtz noted that Borger "is tired of all the controversies from the '90's involving the Clinton White House" and cited a May 23, 2006, New York Times article about the Clintons he described as a "huge front-page story about their marriage, and what was really going on there, and would people care, and how would Bill be as first spouse?" Kurtz added, "So, I doubt the media are going to let go of that storyline." Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page retorted, "And that story proved to be a big fizzle. I mean, I thought it was going to deliver with some new revelations. It didn't." Page then responded affirmatively after Kurtz asked, "But will every news organization in this country run some version of that story in the next couple of months?"

From the January 21 edition of CNN's Reliable Sources:

KURTZ: Gloria says that the media, or at least she personally, is tired of all the controversies from the '90s involving the Clinton White House. But it was earlier this year The New York Times ran this huge front-page story about their marriage, and what was really going on there, and would people care, and how would Bill be as first spouse? So, I doubt the media are going to let go of that storyline.

PAGE: And that story proved to be a big fizzle. I mean, I thought it was going to deliver with some new revelations. It didn't. All it did was kind of recap what we already knew, that everybody's waiting to see --

KURTZ: But --

PAGE: -- you know, what's Bill going to do, blah, blah, blah.

[crosstalk]

KURTZ: But will every news organization in this country run --

PAGE: Yeah, yeah.

KURTZ: -- some version of that story in the next couple of months?

PAGE: The thing is, Gloria is expressing what a lot of voters are saying out there, that they're tired of all that. And so, I think the funny thing about Hillary Clinton is, Democrats are nervous about her because she is so easy to attack, but she also generates a lot of enthusiasm on her side. So that's why she is, right now, the establishment candidate.

BORGER: She could get "Swift Boated" that way. Let me be very honest about it. The whole -- the whole "Bill and Hillary" thing could come back up in that sort of a sense where a third-party group does it, and then the press makes believe, "Oh, it's not our story, it's their story." And then we cover it.

KURTZ: We're just repeating the charges.

—K.D.